If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.
Parallel translations
- WEB If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this.
- KJV If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
- BSB If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.
- NKJV If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
- NASB If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers should pray for a brother sinning in a way that does not lead to death, and God will grant him life; but there is a sin leading to death. Intercession for the erring is a vital duty.
Overview
John encourages prayer for fellow believers caught in sin, promising restoration to spiritual vitality. He distinguishes a 'sin not leading to death' from a 'sin leading to death,' which faithful interpreters understand in various ways, most commonly as the deliberate, final rejection of Christ by the false teachers who had left the church (apostasy). John does not forbid praying for such a person but does not command it, leaving the focus on ready intercession for struggling believers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 30
- Heb 6:4–6For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
- 1 Sam 2:25If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.
- Jer 11:14“Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.
- Mark 3:28–30Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;
- Heb 10:26–31For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
- Luke 12:10Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
- Matt 12:31–32Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
- 2 Pet 2:20–22For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
- Jer 14:11Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.
- Jer 7:16“Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
- Jas 5:14–15Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
- Exod 34:9He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
- Exod 32:10–14Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
- Num 15:30“‘But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes Yahweh. That soul shall be cut off from among his people.
- Jer 18:18–21Then they said, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
- Gen 20:7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.”
- Gen 20:17Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children.
- Job 42:7–9It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
- Exod 32:31–32Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
- Jer 15:1–2Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
- 2 Chr 30:18–20For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Yahweh pardon everyone
- Amos 7:1–3Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest.
- Ps 106:23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
- John 17:9I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
- Num 12:13Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”
- Deut 9:18–20I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.
- Num 14:11–21Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
- Num 16:26–32He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!”
- Ezek 22:30“I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
- 2 Tim 4:14Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 5:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.
How traditions read this
Four faithful readings of a notoriously hard text.
The "sin that leads to death" is a true believer''s decisive apostasy — a deliberate, final abandonment of Christ — which other sins are not. Read by those who hold that the genuinely regenerate can fall away.
Key points · Sin unto death = apostasy of a believer; other sins forgivable; rejects unconditional eternal security.
I. Howard Marshall; Stephen Smalley; Ben Witherington III
Both the sinning "brother" and the one who sins unto death are nominal or unbelieving; the deadly sin is a settled, decisive rejection of Christ rather than any single act.
Key points · Both figures unbelieving/nominal; deadly sin = rejecting Christ; not a list of mortal acts.
John Stott; Irvin Busenitz
"Life" and "death" are physical: God may discipline an erring believer with bodily death (as with some at Corinth), without any loss of salvation. The passage concerns chastening, not damnation.
Key points · Death = physical discipline of a believer; salvation not lost; cf. 1 Cor 11:30.
B. B. Warfield; James Montgomery Boice
The non-deadly sin is any sin a believer commits (always forgivable in Christ); the "sin unto death" is any sin characteristic of an unbeliever, supremely the apostasy of leaving the community — the view this essay judges most likely.
Key points · Believer''s sin vs. unbeliever''s sin; apostasy in view; commended as the best reading.
Colin Kruse; Robert Yarbrough; Sam Storms · The Gospel Coalition
Each view is stated as that tradition would put it, with representative sources. Limitless Word presents them side by side and endorses none — see the methodology.